The Boy
by AutumnSkyy
Summary: The day she finds him in the playground, Lana Winters decides to take her son home.
1. The Woman

**THE BOY**

 **A/N:** Surprise! Yet again another story I'll struggle to keep up with haha. Anyway, I always imagined what would of been if she had taken him home after all.

.

 **ONE**

The Woman

.

His name was Johnny Morgan.

Lana Winters refrained from speaking the name at first.

The name she did not come up with on her own. The name to the face of the sweet boy in the school photograph that sat on the manila folder upon her desk.

She was shocked at the face of the boy no longer an infant. But her shock was something of a surprise for she had half expected to still see that scrunchy face looking back at her. Instead there was a face of a boy. A boy she did not know but had given birth to ten years ago in 1965.

A boy she was going to look for.

She had thought about it multiple times over the span of the last year. The boy had weighed heavily on her mind over the last ten years but it wasn't until the beginning of 1974 that she began to feel the heavy remorse for giving him up. Lana thought about how things would have been if she hadn't given him up for adoption. She wondered about his personality and his interests. She needed to find him. She needed to see him with her very own eyes.

Now in the fall of 1975 she had found the boy.

Ten years old, living in a home for boys located in the heart of Boston. Never once adopted, never once given a home, a family or a chance. The remorse twisted in Lana's stomach. The guilt ate her alive every single moment she was awake. The boy she had abandoned was still out there, waiting.

Lana exited the building of the workplace and out into the cold November air. She rubbed her luxurious coat in means to adjust to the sudden coldness and lit a cigarette.

Tomorrow she would meet the boy. Tomorrow she would meet her son.

The thought was an odd one but one Lana had been waiting so long for. She didn't know what she would say or what she would do upon seeing him. She hadn't recited the right words to apologize to him. But Lana did know that a part of her, a part of her that was so strong, wanted her to bring him home.

Lana drove her car a few blocks down and parked it next to a coffee shop she frequented often.

She entered the shop and looked around the quaint place until she saw him seated at a small table by the window. When he glanced up, they met eyes and Lana smiled.

"Is this seat taken?" She asked.

Kit Walker chuckled. "No, Ma'am. Have a seat."

Lana laughed and sat down. The two sat in a humble silence for a moment until Kit finally decided to break it. "So, what do ya think?"

Lana glanced out the window onto the street. A group of young boys a bit older than her son ran by, laughing and pushing one another.

"I'm going to see him."

Kit was surprised but of course a part of him expected it no less. "Are ya sure that's what ya wanna do?"

Lana inhaled and exhaled, "Yes. I need to Kit. I need to see him."

"And if he sees you? What are you going to tell him?"

The waitress came and asked if she could take Lana's order. Lana smiled politely and asked for a cup of coffee. The waitress nodded and went off with her order.

"I don't. I don't what I'm going to tell him. Not yet." She admitted.

Kit took a drink from his coffee. "Well, when are ya gonna see him?"

"Tomorrow." Lana said, "He goes to a school in downtown Boston, near the home where he lives."

"Oh, so he was adopted after all?"

Lana solemnly shook her head. "No. It's a…its' a home for orphaned boys." Her voice died down.

"Oh." Kit sighed, "Well, ya have my support." Kit reached over and grasped her hand giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Lana smiled at him, "Thank you."

Kit pulled away when the waitress brought Lana her coffee.

"I'm worried." Lana admitted.

"About what?" Kit asked.

"I'm worried of how he'll react. Of what he'll say." She confided in him, "I'm worried of what I'll say. Of what I'll do. But I need to do this. I need to see him."

Kit smiled gently at her, "I'm sure everythin' will be fine and you'll make the right choice. Yer Lana Winters after all. Nothin' scares ya."

Lana chuckled knowing very well that there were still things in her life that scared her and facing her past was one of them.

.

When Lana parked her car on the driveway of her lavish home in the outskirts of Boston, she stepped out and glanced at the large house. She had denied the boy a decent start at life and she wondered how he had faired in his first ten years.

Lana would find out soon enough.

She stepped inside the large house and closed the door behind her. She placed her purse on the round table in the middle of the foyer and went directly to her study. There, she took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack by the door. Her heart skipped a beat and she quickly reached into the pocket of her coat bringing out the photo of Johnny Morgan.

Lana sat behind her desk and studied the photograph of the boy with the blue eyes hiding behind a pair of glasses. His skin was fair and his hair a chestnut brown. His school photograph was so formal and he barely even forced a smile. His eyes looked solemn and his expression was too innocent for the cruelty of the world.

Lana tried to find any trace of Oliver Thredson in her son's face but found more of herself in the boy. She couldn't deny it.

"I wonder what kind of boy you are." Lana said to the photograph, "I suppose tomorrow we'll find out."


	2. The Boy

**Don't own AHS.**

 **A/N:** Really digging the feedback on chapter one! I've had this idea in my head for agesssss. Probably since Dear Father was around. Anyway, had some free time and wanted to update the next chapter (:  
Enjoy!

 **Ps**. I had to go back and rewatch that scene with Lana and Johnny on the school grounds and ugly crying sounds came out of my mouth. I couldn't handle. I will NEVER get over that scene. NEVER. * runs away crying *

.

 **TWO**

The Boy

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Someone was crying downstairs from an argument over what he only guessed was the last bit of milk. Johnny Morgan sat on his small twin sized bed crammed by the window of the last room down the hall. On his lap sat a Flash comic book. He skimmed through the pages, reading each panel with deep concentration, immersed in a make believe world much different from his own.

The comic book itself was somewhat ragged and wrinkled from being passed down from boy to boy in the home. Johnny had finally gotten it from an older boy that had left the home a week prior. The boy had been kind to Johnny and was the only kind of family he had ever known.

Johnny's blue eyes studied each drawing with precision wishing he too could run as fast as Barry Allen. Johnny often found comfort in super heroes like Barry Allen or Peter Parker that were much like him, often orphaned and bullied by others. Of course many of these super heroes weren't truly alone.

Johnny often wondered if there was also someone for him too. Perhaps it was a parent still looking for him. Maybe even his own mother.

Johnny became rigid at the thought of the mother he had never known. She often crawled in his mind at random moments throughout the day. He wondered if she was dead, if she was alive, if she was looking for him. But Johnny wasn't the only boy in the home who wondered about his mother. Many of the boys had often admitted during the night when all the lights were off that they still hoped their mothers and fathers were out there somewhere. Johnny too felt that way but he didn't admit it like all the other boys had.

He didn't like to think about it.

Johnny pushed his glasses up and glanced at the door when he heard his name being called from downstairs.

"Chris! Johnny! Riley! Come down now!" It was Anne, the orphanage director—or so she liked to call herself. Johnny knew she was but a simple house mother.

Another boy appeared at the doorway. He was a red headed boy a few inches shorter than Johnny but about a year older than him. "Hurry up, you dink. We're gonna be late."

Johnny frowned at the name he'd been called but quickly shoved his comic book into his backpack and jumped off the bed, grabbing his brown jacket as he exited the room. Before he did, he skid to a stop and turned back to fetch his black and white converse from under his bed. The boys fumbled down the stairs, feet heavy upon old creaking wood and into a sea of other boys ranging from ages three to fourteen.

Johnny followed the red headed boy, Chris, to the front door where multiple shoes were kept in a heap. Johnny leaned against the wall and put his shoes on. He hated leaving them in the pile just waiting to be snatched by another boy. It had happened before. As he tied his shoes, he looked down the hall in the direction of the kitchen where he could still hear crying and arguing. There was never enough for everyone.

.

The cold November air hit the boy as soon as he exited the house, making him shiver. He fixed his backpack, feeling the weight of his books, his comic and a few dinosaur toys he had forgotten to take out all jumbled together. The walk to the school seemed like a long one, especially beneath the cold weather.

Johnny walked alongside Chris and behind some of the other boys. He tried to keep up but the boys often walked fast on purpose to leave him behind. Once they reached the school grounds, the boys pretended not to know one another to keep themselves from being made fun of from coming from the boys' home.

"Wait up!" Johnny called out.

"Get lost, Dink!" An older boy called back, "Every kid for themselves!"

Johnny paused but hurried up and ran into the school after his classmates.

.

Lana parked across the street from the school. It was a fairly large gray building with multiple windows. She had already scoped out the place and had decided to check in with the office, claiming to be a visitor. Lana was the perfect sleuth and she knew how to play people perfectly into letting her into buildings. She supposed that's how she got in trouble in the first place.

The nerves wrecked havoc in her stomach and she waited impatiently for the final bell to ring. She just hoped she caught up to him in time. In that moment Lana knew that all she wanted was to see him. To know that he was okay. She just needed to see the boy. The remorse would not let her live.

She tried to rehearse the words she would use to approach him. She wasn't even sure if she was going to. The nerves were causing her to back out. Besides, what explanation would she give him?

Lana had no plan.

"I just want to see him." She told herself in attempts to calm her raging nerves, "That's all."

.

Johnny sat in his class with mild interest. He doodled in his notebook a variety of things from dogs to super heroes. He was scribbling a T-Rex with a spit ball hit him in the back of the head. Johnny turned around to see two boys snickering amongst themselves.

Johnny muttered under his breath and turned around to continue his drawing.

During lunch he sat at the edge of a table in the cafeteria with two other boys from his class and Chris from the home. Chris was the closest thing Johnny had to a friend or so it seemed. He had plenty of other friends from class like Ethan Malloy and Carl Wes but neither boy really knew of his home life.

Ethan was in the middle of a joke that Johnny already knew the punch line too. He bit back a smile and let his friend continue on with the joke. A group of older boys from the 6th grade passed by and made rude remarks, calling them names and making fun of them.

Johnny sat quietly, pushing his glasses up and ignoring the other boys. He noticed Ethan fall quiet.

"Go on Ethan, finish the joke." He encouraged his friend.

Ethan smiled and perked up again, continuing his joke.

.

Lana waited until the final school of the day rang. She stepped out of her car and watched as multiple children came rushing out of the front doors. Lana took in a deep breath and crossed the street.

.

Johnny stepped from out of double doors that lead from a hallway out onto the playground centered in the middle open-air quad of the school. Children waiting for their parents or simply killing time before they had to go home filled the small playground.

"No running!" A teacher called out, reminding the children to be careful.

Young girls went down the slide and children pushed one another on the small merry go round. Johnny stood near the slide, looking around for Chris to begin their walk home. He swung his backpack over his shoulder, accidentally hitting an older and much taller boy.

"Hey, watch it, punk."

"Sorry." Johnny muttered taking a step back from the boy.

The boy gave a chuckle and stepped towards Johnny. "What you got in here?" He reached for Johnny's backpack and yanked it from him.

Johnny became nervous and quickly looked around as kids began to circle around them hoping to catch the commotion. Johnny watched helplessly as the boy opened his backpack and rummaged through it, dumping some things out.

"You like dinosaurs?" He asked half amused yet mockingly, "You wanna suck a brontosaurus dick?"

Johnny glared at this, obviously offended, "Shut up, asshole!" he fought back against the taunting of the older boy. He was tired of being constantly pushed around.

"Who are you calling an asshole, faggot?" The boy demanded and with all his strength shoved Johnny down onto the ground just as he was reaching down to collect his things.

"Augh!" Johnny winced, the blow knocking off the glasses from his face.

And then Johnny heard the voice of a woman coming to his rescue.

.

When Lana arrived at the playground, the first thing she noticed was a small crowd of children gathering around two boys. She got closer, picking up her pace and only hesitated a moment when she realized that one of the boys was Johnny Morgan.

He stood face to face with an older boy and an altercation was clearly underway. It was then the older boy grabbed Johnny by the scruff of his brown aviator jacket and shoved him down to the ground as hard as he could.

Lana didn't hesitate and approached the older boy with a determination to protect her son that was so strong she let it over take her. "Hey, you. You little shit. You back off." She pushed the boy away from Johnny Morgan, "You better back off before I hurt you in ways you haven't even dreamt of."

The older boy only looked at her with nervous eyes, he took a few steps back, gave Johnny one last look and stalked off without another word or glance.

.

The next thing Johnny knew, an elegantly dressed woman with long brown hair was pushing the bully back. He remained sitting on the grass, watching what was happening with his very own eyes. He made eye contact with the boy right before he walked away and then turned to look at the woman that was now walking towards him. He looked up at her from the ground like a little boy lost and confused.

The woman slowly knelt down to his level and took off her sunglasses. In that moment, Johnny remained quiet. The woman struck him as beautiful and elegant by the way she was dressed but he had never seen her before.

"You all right?" She asked him.

Johnny tried to act nonchalant about the situation. Not wanting to look weak in front of a stranger, "Yeah, I'm fine." He answered her, keeping his gaze on hers.

Lana slowly looked away and reached for his glasses, picking them up off the ground and offering them to him. The boy quickly grabbed them and put them back on. The woman continued to study his face for a few more seconds. Her eyes looked solemn and filled with a sense of longing. No one had ever looked at Johnny like that before.

"You know he's the asshole, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

.

The boy's answer was firm, without any hesitation and Lana could only guess that he had a good understanding between the good guys and the assholes. Yet, his sweet little face made him look defenseless. Especially when he sat on the grass in front of her with his things spilled around him. Lana hadn't even noticed the other children standing around watching them. Not even the boy had taken notice. His eyes were on hers.

Lana felt the strong urge grow through her like wild fire and with a gloved hand, she reached up to softly caress his face. She gave him a solemn smile, wishing in that very moment to pick him up and take him home. The boy was just as defenseless as the day he had been born and he needed his mother.

His eyes were so blue, bluer than in his photograph. Lana knew he had gotten them from her father. She was sure of it since he was the only parent she had with eyes as blue as the boy's. And in his face she could see traces of both her and Oliver. With those glasses on, he resembled the man who fathered him that much more but not enough to be unsettling. He was a handsome boy no less and Lana was mildly surprised that she and Oliver had created such a fine young boy. It almost made her proud.

It then slowly dawned upon Lana that she was not his mother and he did not know her. She was but a mere stranger to him. And yet he continued to stare at her with parted lips and wide blue eyes, nervous, confused and somewhat afraid of her actions. Lana could only guess what he was thinking but she couldn't help it.

.

Johnny sat still, watching the woman's glowing brown eyes as she placed her gloved hand upon his cheek. He could feel his heart beat wildly in his chest and a strange feeling grow in his stomach. He was confused as to why a stranger was treating him that way. No stranger had ever done so before. Not even his caregivers or the multiple couples he met during adoption meetings that never went through.

Johnny then slowly began to notice all the other children watching them and grew embarrassed but made no real effort to move. It wasn't until the woman realized what she was doing and slowly pulled her hand away that Johnny finally got up to his feet. He quickly collected his things and ran off without bothering to shove his toys and other belongings into his backpack.

"You should report him!" The woman called out to him as he headed towards the back exit of the playground.

Johnny turned around, watching the woman as he continued to quickly walk away. She continued to watch him go until Johnny fully turned around and ran off, leaving the woman behind in the playground.

.

Lana watched the boy run off. He turned back to look at her as he did so. He still looked afraid and unsure of what had transpired. Lana just stood feeling helpless as the boy slipped through her fingers. She had never felt the need to protect someone so strongly before. Of course she knew that she wasn't his mother in any meaningful way and entering his life as so would only confuse the boy.

Still, as she stood, watching him disappear, Lana knew she wanted to be a part of his life.

She wanted to be his mother.


	3. The Fighters

**Don't Own AHS**

 **A/N** : Thanks so much for all the support with this new story! I was gonna update earlier but I had a super rough weekend that left me absolutely drained. I'm feeling much better now which is a very good thing so I'm gonna do some updating. No worries, I wasn't hurt or anything!

Also, super obsessed with Tegan & Sara's song "Boyfriend". Dang. The feels.

.

 **THREE**

The Fighters

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Johnny ran all the way back to the home, tripping over his shoes and dropping his things as he went along. Every time he stopped to pick them up, he looked behind him as if the woman would be there. No one was.

Johnny quickly shoved everything in his backpack and rushed to the home.

He burst through the front door and ran all the way upstairs, pushing the smaller boys aside as he did so. He ran into his room and shut the door behind him. The boys he shared the room with weren't home yet.

Johnny caught his breath. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his inhaler, taking in deep breathes. He then sat on his bed and replayed the incident in his head over and over. So many questions ran through his mind.

Who was that woman?

Why did she stand up for him?

Why was she so kind to him?

Would he ever see her again?

Johnny calmed down little by little and glanced out the window. He could hear boys playing outside on the street and hoped none of them witnessed what had occurred on the playground.

Johnny pulled his feet up to the bed and continued to glance out the window. Ideas slowly began to form in his head until something clicked. "Mom?"

.

Lana placed her keys on the round table in the middle of the foyer. She had finally seen her son and he had left a very big impression on her. Lana entered the house slowly with a solemn expression. She took off her sunglasses and placed them on the coffee table in the living room. She sat down on the sofa and remained silent.

She replayed their interaction over and over again in her mind. He seemed like such a sweet boy; she could tell by the look in his eyes. Still, they were strangers to one another. She knew nothing about him. She didn't know the things he liked or disliked—aside from the dinosaurs she had seen amongst his belongings.

Lana looked around the house, imaging the boy in the middle of it all. There was already an empty room upstairs that she had never bothered to decorate or fill with anything. It was as if it was waiting for him whether she knew it or not. Lana grew nervous of the thoughts growing in her mind. It would be such a huge step but upon seeing the boy, she knew she had to save him before it was too late.

Lana stood and hurried to the phone to make a very important call.

.

Night fell upon the boys' home and Johnny lay in bed in the bedroom he shared with three other boys. Chris lay in the shabby bed next to Johnny's. When the caretaker deemed lights out, all the boys lay in their bed and prepared to go to sleep.

Chris and Johnny were wide awake. "Psst." Chris called over to Johnny, "The hell were you after school today?"

Johnny rolled around to face him. "I got caught up." He said, not sure how to even explain what had happened.

"Doing what?"

Johnny refrained from answering right away. He didn't want to come off like he was lying about what had really occurred. A lot of the boys in the home were lying about where their parents really were. One boy had sworn his father was some kind of agent. All the boys knew they were lies.

"I think…I think I met my mom." Johnny whispered.

"What?" Chris sat right up. "What are you talking about?"

The other boys groaned and rolled in their beds. "Chris, shut up."

"No. Johnny's spitting bull again."

Johnny sat straight up, offended, "It's not bull!"

"Pfft. Whatever." Chris lay back down. "Parents don't come back. They never do."

Johnny lay back down and pulled the blanket over himself "Yeah, well, mine did." He muttered mostly to himself as he rolled over to face the window, glancing up at the quarter moon.

Johnny had carved it into his mind that the woman from the playground was his mother and nothing was going to change that. He stayed up half the night thinking about her. Wondering if he was right about her. He had felt something deep inside that had told him so. It was hard to ignore.

.

When the last bell of the day rang, Johnny made his way to the playground just like he had the day before. He leaned against the wall of the main building and searched the playground for the woman he believed to be his mother. All he saw were children and all he heard were their yells and laughter.

He waited for a few more minutes; a part of him hopeful that the woman would return.

She did not.

When the playground began to clear, Johnny went home.

.

When Johnny arrived home, he went straight to the kitchen instead of going up to his room like he did every day. He went into the kitchen where he was given a glass with a little bit of milk.

Johnny looked at the more than half empty glass and raised a brow, not sure what to even say to his portion.

"Sorry Johnny," Anne said a bit sadly, "Maybe tomorrow there will be enough."

"It's okay." He handed the cup to a smaller boy that had been crying for seconds. "I'm not thirsty."

Anne put her hands to her hips. "Fine. Go watch TV with the other boys."

Johnny merely shrugged and joined the boys in the living room. About ten boys sat around the crowded living room on the floor and on the old sofas, eyes straight on the television. One of the smaller boys sat by the old television set changing the channel knob whenever the other boys ordered.

"Change it." A lanky blonde boy ordered and the little freckled boy obliged without hesitation.

They came upon the news channel and an elegant woman with long brown hair came upon the screen. She held a microphone and was speaking about a fire in downtown Boston that claimed the lives of four people.

When Johnny heard her voice his eyes whipped to the screen and his lips parted at the utter shock of who was on that screen.

"Change it." The blonde boy, Michael, demanded again.

"Wait!" Johnny stumbled into the living room, stampeding through the boys on the floor.

"Watch it!" Called out one of them as Johnny almost stepped on his hand.

Johnny quickly knelt down in front of the old box set and placed a hand on the screen, scanning the woman from the playground. There was no way he had forgotten her.

"Move, ya dingus!" Another boy called out, annoyed.

"What's the matter, Johnny?" Thomas, the little freckled boy in charge of changing the channels asked.

"I know her!" Johnny claimed excitedly, "I know her! That's my mother!"

All the boys looked at one another with skeptic glances and weird looks. Thomas tilted his head and then looked at the woman on the screen. His brown eyes glossed over and he looked at Johnny, "Really?"

"Really." Johnny confirmed.

"Bullshit!" Another boy, Dylan claimed, "That ain't your mother. That's some famous reporter lady."

Johnny frowned at the boy and looked back to the woman. On the screen was a blue title banner that read: Lana Winters. Boston News.

Johnny felt something in the pit of his stomach. "It's my mother." He confirmed.

"Tom, change the channel." Michael ordered.

"No!"

"Change it!" Michael stood.

"I said, no!" Johnny stood to his feet as well.

.

Anne was just calming down the youngest of the orphans when she heard commotion coming from the living room.

"Olga!" She called to the other caretaker, "Olga!" and raced to the living room where she found the two boys wrestling on the floor.

She handed the toddler to another boy standing near by and hurried to split the two boys apart. "What in the world is going on here?!"

Johnny fixed his glasses. "I just—" He pointed to the box just as the segment was over and the woman was off screen. His voice fell short.

"You just _what_ , Johnny?" Anne demanded angrily.

Johnny lowered his glance, "Nothing…"

"What about you?" She sent her chilly eyes to Michael.

Michael only shrugged. "Just playin' around. Right, Johnny?"

"Right." Johnny nodded, meeting Michael's eyes.

The boys fought often but there were understandings amongst their ranks. Not ratting each other out was one of them.

Anne sighed heavily. "Your rooms. Now."

The boys nodded and the entire living room scattered with groans and whines. Anne looked up to see the older woman, Olga appear in the living room looking awfully spooked and out of breath. Anne only gave her a shake of the head.

.

In their bedroom, the boys gathered. Johnny sat on his bed to himself a bit angry about what had happened but found no blame in the other boy. He knew how it looked. It looked like a lie.

Chris sat on his own creaky bed, watching his friend. "Why are you lying?"

Johnny glared at him, "I'm _not_ lying." He retorted hotly.

"If she's really your mom…why are you here then?" Another boy named Charles asked.

Johnny shrugged feeling defeated by the question. "I don't know…"

He truly did not know but the boy held hope.


	4. The Meeting

**A/N:** Okay, this chapter came to me so quickly and I just had to write it up!  
I wanted to thank you guys for your kind words and your praises on my well being. I really appreciate it. You guys are the best, I swear. Also, I will have a new chapter of Dear Johnny up soon as well. Nutmeg will also be updated since I start fall semester next Monday and ughhhh, why. Anyway, I hope you're all doing perfectly well :) !

.

 **FOUR**

The Meeting

.

Weeks had passed since the incident with the reporter at the playground and Johnny Morgan was convinced she was his mother. When the first days passed, he would linger after school to see if she had come back. He waited about an hour but she never showed so Johnny would give up and walk home. After a week, he stopped waiting for her, far too disappointed and embarrassed of the fact. However, he did begin to question if she would ever come back for him.

Johnny wondered a lot of things about the reporter. He wondered why she had given him up and why she had returned. He wondered if she would ever come to claim him and take him home. He had so many questions for her. He wanted to know so many things about her and about himself.

A part of him also wondered why he didn't hold any resentment towards the woman for abandoning him. That resentment was overshadowed by the hope that she would come back for him one day.

Not to mention the fact that his mother was more than he could have ever imagined. She was a famous reporter that appeared on television almost every single day and Johnny thought that was the best thing ever. He was so proud of the fact that his mother had an exciting career and was well known by so many. He didn't care if the other boys didn't believe him. He knew.

And that was good enough for him.

The Boston air was rigid that day. It made the boy's nose a rosy red and chilled the tips of his fingers as he jabbed his hands in the pockets of his brown jacket to try and keep them warm. He walked home from school on his own that day.

It was a Wednesday. A rather overcast day with the promise of rain later that night. Johnny crossed the street and passed by the electronic store. Multiple televisions were positioned in front of the large glass window so passerby's could catch a quick glanced at what they could find inside.

Something caught the corner of Johnny's eye and he glanced up to the screens to see Lana Winters on every single one of them. He stopped and faced the window, his eyes bright and his mouth parted in slight surprise. He turned his full attention to her news segment.

A man walking by stopped as well to watch the news segment. He grumbled about whatever Lana was talking about. Johnny had no mind for such grown up news and only turned his head to look at the man.

"That's my mother, you know." He said proudly.

The man looked at him and snorted, half amused, "Sure she is."

"She is." He persisted, unbothered by the fact that the man didn't believe him.

The man cackled, "Where she at then?"

Johnny looked away from the man and shrugged meekly.

"Stay out of trouble, kid." The man said and walked away chuckling to himself.

Johnny watched him leave and then turned back to finish watching Lana's segment. He always watched her on the news when he could.

.

Johnny turned into the neighborhood where the home resided and where he had spent the majority of his life. Johnny had arrived at St. Jude's Home for Boys he was only four years old. Prior to that he had been in St. Ursula's Home for Lost Children where he had arrived as a newborn. However, St. Ursula's had been closed for lack of funds to maintain all the children in 1969.

Johnny didn't remember much of St. Ursula's. What he did remember, he deemed them nightmares.

When Johnny approached the large brick stone house, he found the majority of the boys lounging around on the stoop while the others played stick ball on the street. The older boys gossiped to themselves but Johnny paid no mind to them and went up the stairs.

"Wouldn't go in there if I were you." Dylan warned.

"Why?" He asked.

"Just wouldn't." He looked away and put his attention to the game on the street.

Usually when that happened it meant there was a social worker inside read to take a boy and drop them somewhere else. Johnny wasn't bothered by the fact and went inside anyway. He could hear Ms. Anne's voice coming from the living room as she talked in a low voice with someone else.

"He's a quiet boy. Doesn't give much trouble and keeps to himself." He heard her say but that could have been said of any of the boys in the home.

Johnny avoided the living room all together and headed straight for the stairs. He was halfway up when Ms. Anne called to him.

"Johnny, is that you?"

Johnny winced at his name being called out and he hesitated for a moment. "Yeah!" He called back, regretting it right away.

"Can you come down here, please?" Ms. Anne's tone was rather serious, almost grave. She had that tone she always did when one of the boys was in trouble or about to leave for good.

He knew he wasn't going anywhere so he sighed heavily and slumped down the stairs and into the living room, "I didn't do anything, I swear—" He said before he looked up and saw Ms. Anne sitting on the sofa. Next to her sat Lana Winters.

Johnny froze immediately when the woman's brown eyes met his. She was dressed just as beautiful and elegant as the day he saw her in the playground. His heart seemed to stop for a moment and then picked up, savagely beating against his chest.

Ms. Anne's expression was an awfully serious one, however, she did try to force a smile.

"Johnny, this is Ms. Lana Winters."

"Um," Johnny muttered, unable to think or move. He was sure he was dreaming. He was sure one of the older boys had knocked him unconscious on the playground and none of it was real.

"Hello, Johnny." Lana Winters spoke. She gave him a gentle smile and her eyes seemed to gleam in a way.

"Hi." Johnny's voice wavered a little. He looked around the living room to find that they were alone.

"Put your things down and have a seat, Johnny." Ms. Anne ordered.

Johnny didn't move for a few seconds, forgetting how to move his legs. He then set his backpack down next to the reclining chair and sat down.

.

Lana's heart almost leaped when she saw the boy enter the living room. He looked just as he did that day on the playground. Innocent and sweet with a boyish charm he didn't even know he had. He pushed his glasses up and took a seat on the reclining chair by himself. He looked cautious and a little confused to Lana and she wondered if he remembered her. Of course he did by the look on his face.

Those steel blue eyes said it all.

He sat a little awkwardly and Lana could tell he was nervous. He must have thought he was in trouble.

It had taken Lana many phone calls and multiple meetings with the adoption agency to get her rights to the boy back. It had been a rather long and tedious process but since she was the boy's birth mother, she didn't have to wait that long for the judge to grant her full custody of Johnny Morgan.

She was there to tell him that she was taking him home. Of course she just couldn't take him then and there. He needed time to adjust to her presence and come to terms with the truth of it all. It wouldn't be easy.

.

"I suppose you're wondering why Ms. Winters is here to see you." Ms. Anne went on, cutting the bothersome silence that had begun to fill the air.

Johnny nodded but he knew why his mother was there. Or so he hoped he knew. Still, he chose to act like he knew nothing and nodded to what Ms. Anne had said.

She smiled weekly at the boy, "Johnny, Ms. Winters is here to take you home."

Johnny's heart skipped a beat and he felt a twirling feeling in his stomach. Still, the words sounded unreal to him and he must have looked shocked for Ms. Anne continued.

"Johnny, Ms. Winters is your birth mother. She's come to take you back with her."

.

The new must have been a shocking one for any child but Johnny Morgan just sat there, silent. Lana hadn't wanted to confuse the boy but it had to be done. He had to know the truth one way or another. Still, Johnny sat there with an unreadable look upon his face. It was like he couldn't process any of it.

"Oh." He ended up saying.

Ms. Anne saddened, "I know this must be very shocking to you, boy but you better get used to the idea."

Lana cleared her throat. "Can I have a moment with him?"

"Yes." Ms. Anne nodded and stood from the sofa. She patted Johnny's shoulder as she left the living room and left mother and son to themselves.

Lana laid her eyes on the boy. He looked awfully nervous but said nothing.

"You knew, didn't you?" Lana asked the boy.

The boy nodded, "Yeah, I knew."

"How?" She asked, intrigued.

Johnny shrugged, "You stopped that bully." He glanced out the window where the other boys were going on with their lives and meanwhile, inside, Johnny's life had changed so drastically. "No grown ups ever been that nice to me…" He didn't mention the feeling he had gotten that day. It would have seemed too strange.

Lana saddened at this and she couldn't help to wonder even more about the boy's struggles throughout his young life. Whatever they were, he would no longer have to go through them. "So you've known all this time then?"

"Mhm." He nodded.

Lana smiled, "You're a smart boy."

Johnny only gave her a little shrug. "I've seen you on the television." He said instead, "You're famous, huh?"

Lana chuckled softly, "You can say that."

"That's neat…" His eyes fell to the floor, "None of the other kids think you're my mother. But I knew."

"You told them?" Lana was surprised at this.

He nodded. "Yeah…" He looked rather embarrassed and looked away again.

Lana only smiled, "Well, they better believe it now."

Johnny glanced up, caught her eyes and gave the smallest hint of a smile that faded as quick as it arrived. "Are you really gonna take me with you?" He asked, almost afraid to.

"Yes, Johnny, I am." Lana answered truthfully.

"When?"

"As soon as you're comfortable with."

.

Johnny eyed the woman that was his mother. He knew he should have been over the moon that she was there to take him home like he always dreamed she would. However, now that it was actually happening, he was filled with a sense of fear for the drastic change. He glanced around the living room of the place that had been his home for the majority of his life. He could hear the boys rough housing and playing outside. He had become so accustomed to their voices and laughter that he knew nothing else.

Still, Johnny no longer belonged with them. He wasn't an orphan. He was someone's son. Someone who was there to finally take him home.

"I know you must be hesitant. I know you must be wondering why I left you and why I took so long to come back."

Her words hit Johnny right where it hurt and he forced himself not to show any emotion that would prove he had missed her all his life.

"I'd like to tell you these things, Johnny but they aren't pretty and they aren't easy to hear."

.

Lana had thought a lot of what she would tell the boy. Her first instinct was to lie like she did so perfectly well. However, that would not work. There were so many things working against her. Maniac was one of them. Sitting on the shelves of multiple bookstores around the U.S. It would be so easy to figure it out.

But that was not the time nor the place to tell the boy the whole truth. She had to do it one day at a time.

"Is he with you?" The boy asked out of nowhere.

Lana frowned lightly, "Who?"

Johnny grew a bit rigid and fiddled with his fingers. "My father…"

Lana's fists tightened at this. How could she have forgotten about Oliver Thredson. The father of her child. Well, Lana had already decided what to tell him if he asked.

"I'm all you have." She smiled weakly hoping that would be enough for him in that moment. There was plenty of time to talk about Oliver Thredson but she wished he would never know.

Maniac once again reigned supreme.

The boy would find out all the truth one day, sure enough but for now, Lana just wanted to focus on taking him home.

The boy lowered his glance and didn't ask about his father again but Lana knew he would again one day soon. He had every right to.

It didn't take long before Ms. Anne returned with a smile on her face even though she still looked extremely nervous of how Johnny would take the news. So far he seemed to be doing well. Needless to say, he did have a glossy look in his eyes that only meant he was trying very hard to keep all his emotions in.

.

Johnny sat in silence as Ms. Anne and Lana discussed the judge's court orders regarding her granted custody of the boy. Ms. Anne read a few papers over and signed them. Johnny didn't know what they were for but he guessed she was singing over St. Jude's guardianship over him. Lana said she would take the papers to the social worker and stood to her feet.

The next thing Johnny knew, they were standing by the front door to say their goodbyes. Lana faced Johnny and just like she had done at the playground, she lifted her hand and gently placed it upon his cheek. That time she hadn't been wearing her gloves and Johnny felt the warmth and softness of her hand. His eyes locked on hers just like they had that day and he felt the caring touch of a mother that he had never felt in his ten years of life.

"I'll see you on Friday." She said to him with a gentle smile.

Without a word, Johnny suddenly hugged Lana and buried his face in her beige trench coat. His voice was low but loud enough that only Lana heard him speak, "I knew you'd come."


	5. The Way Home

Don't own AHS.

 **A/N:** Ah, sorry for the lack of updating guys. I started school and then work and then I've been practicing my roller-skating again because I'm considering getting into roller derby after wanting to for the longest time. Anyway, that's eaten up all my free time. But no worries, promise that a new chapter of The Cosmos is also under way.

.

 **FIVE**

The Way Home

.

Lana stood in the doorway of the half empty room that would belong to her son. She had cleaned it out and brought a twin bed in, two nightstands, an empty bookcase and a lamp. She wasn't sure what Johnny liked—besides dinosaurs and decided that she would let him do what he wanted with the room.

She just didn't want him to arrive to an empty room.

Lana knew the transition would be a terribly awkward and remotely hard one. Both of them would need to get used to the other and to their new relationship and situation. Johnny would need to get used to a new life, a new home, a new school and a new last name. Lana had planned to move him schools eventually if he was fine with it or if she saw the need to.

As for the last name, she would prefer it but that also would take time.

She didn't want to change his world too much too soon.

Lana on the other hand also had to adapt to a new life. She had to find a way to introduce her son to the world and to the public eye especially. Not right away, but within time, people around her would come to know of the boy and the word would spread out beyond to those who loved Maniac so.

Maniac.

Lana didn't even want to think about it. It was a reminder of every single lie she had ever told. A proof of her most selfish desires. How would she explain that to Johnny? What would she tell him when he found out that she had told the world he died?

A part of her knew she had done so to protect him. To keep the boy from every finding out whom she was and where she was. If Lana Winters claimed her child had died, there would be no child to look for. No child to wonder.

The other was just done out of pure selfishness.

How she wished she could take it all back.

But there was no longer time for remorse. The boy would be back in her life and in her custody. They would both receive a new start.

In between the excitement of having her boy back, Lana was afraid. She still didn't know when she would tell the boy about her father. She wished she wouldn't have to but Maniac was there as a proof that would not be ignored. Sooner or later he would find out and have so many questions. Lana believed the best way would be to lay it on him slowly and gently.

True, she never wanted her son to know that his father was Bloody Face. He didn't deserve that stigma but it was there. It was a part of them both. She just hoped the boy took it in stride.

Lana stepped into the room and walked towards the window that lead to the large backyard. She often replayed her friends' words in her mind over the matter.

"Are you insane?" Lois had barked.

"Are you sure about this?" Had been Barb's question.

Lana was insane to take such a thing on but she was so sure about it. Even if the only close people she had left didn't agree with her. Well, at least Kit Walker had agreed and his children seemed excited to meet the boy Lana had given up. In their support she found hope and strength to bring her son home.

She only hoped that the cosmos would finally be in their favor.

.

It felt like a dream to the boy. A dream he couldn't believe. And even though it was the best thing that could of happened to him, Johnny was filled with self-doubt. He had many questions and plenty of hesitation to go forward with the process of returning home with his birth mother. Nevertheless, he shut those feelings out, knowing that what he had been wishing for since he could barely remember had come true.

His birth mother had come back for him and she was everything he could have imagined and more.

It was Friday, the day she was to come by and visit him again. Johnny was walking home from school by himself. That day he did not wear his glasses for they lay broken in half in his pocket. Instead, he wore a purple bruise under his left eye from a fight he had gotten into the evening before in the home.

One of the boys had been itching to pick a fight with Johnny since the day Lana left the home. Jealous that the boy would be leaving with his birth mother, the other boy couldn't resist but to tease and judge until Johnny snapped. Ms. Anne had told him he was lucky he was going to his real home or else she would string him up by his ears and beat him something awful. Johnny didn't care. He didn't care for the bruise or his broken glasses. It was something easily fixed by some tape but he would be darned if he had to do that again and resisted the urge to give the boys another reason to make fun of him.

Upon his walk home, the boy realized that it would be one of the last times he would ever walk down those steps. When he reached the two-story house, he knew it would no longer be his home. The boys sitting out on the stoop would no longer be his housemates. He was going to start a new life.

When Johnny got closer to the house, he noticed the expensive car parked out front. A few of the older boys had circled around it to admire it. It was like something out of their stolen magazines.

Johnny's stomach flipped and he became nervous, knowing who was inside waiting for him. Instead of walking by the boys and risking a wave of insults, he went around the back and entered through the back door. He could instantly hear the sound of the smaller children making a fuss. He hesitated to enter the living room but went anyway and when he did, he was not disappointed.

Once again Lana Winters sat in the seat she had done so the time before. When their eyes met, he felt that same feeling he did that day on the playground. She smiled when she saw him but her smile must have faded when she noted the bruise under his eye.

"Johnny, there you are." Ms. Anne greeted him, "Ms. Winters is here to see you again. Come say hello."

Johnny went into the living room. He stopped a few steps away from them. "Hi."

Lana stood to her feet and immediately went up to the boy. She placed her hand upon his cheek, lifting his face slightly to inspect the bruise.

"What happened to him?" Lana demanded, her head whipping to Ms. Anne.

Ms. Anne was reluctant to tell her. She didn't want Lana to think the boy was a troublemaker and have second thoughts about taking him. One less boy in her care would be heaven sent.

"It was nothing." Johnny cut her off.

Lana looked back to him but she did not look convinced. She placed her hands on the boy's shoulders and turned her attention back to Ms. Anne. "I would really like an explanation for this. I hope this isn't the way these boys are being treated under your care."

"Of course not!" Ms. Anne declared. She took a moment to herself. "Johnny had an altercation with another boy yesterday. However, I took care of that and it won't happen again."

"Of course it won't." Lana agreed, "Johnny, go get your things."

Johnny was stunned for a moment, unsure of what he had just heard. Ms. Anne looked confused just as well.

"I know Mr. Sullivan informed you that I would be by to pick him up on Sunday but I believe it be in his best interest if I took him home as soon as possible." She looked upon Johnny with a gentle glance, "How does that sound?"

Johnny said nothing, still perplexed and in disbelief. He just nodded in response.

"Very well." Lana smiled, "Go get your things."

Johnny nodded again and hurried up the stairs to collect what little he owned. He could hear his mother and Ms. Anne talking but could not make sense of what they were saying.

Johnny quickly went to his bed and shoved the little bit of things he had in his backpack and shoved his hand me down clothes into an old laundry bag he found in the closet. He had never owned a suitcase; it was the best he had.

Before leaving the room, Johnny glanced out the window to see all the boys down on the street. Some had lost interest in the car and the others had begun a game of stickball out on the street. The others just sat on the stoop and hung back.

"Johnny?" Came a little voice and Johnny turned to it. It was little Thomas. He stood in the doorway, confused and concerned. "Where you goin'?"

Johnny fixed his backpack and grabbed the laundry bag with his clothes. "I'm going to my real home." He told Thomas, "With my real mother."

"When are you coming back?" Thomas glanced up at him.

Johnny tried to force a smile for the little boy but couldn't. Instead he tussled his hair and said, "I don't know."

.

Little Thomas followed Johnny downstairs where Lana and Ms. Anne were waiting by the door. Thomas instantly when to Ms. Anne's side and watched as Johnny joined Lana.

"Ready?" She asked him. Johnny only nodded.

Ms. Anne gave the boy a hug, a hug he had never received in all his years there. She wished him good luck and warned him to behave or else she'd see him back.

Lana just placed her hand on his shoulder and led him out the door. The moment was one Johnny couldn't process right away. Stepping through that door with his mother's hand upon his shoulder, the look of all the boys' faces when they stopped and looked up, Thomas' voice as he called out a last goodbye. It felt unreal.

None of the boys said anything, only looked on with unreadable expressions. Johnny didn't even wave at them, unsure of how that would seem on his part. He only gave Ms. Anne and Thomas one last look and let Lana usher him into the back seat of her car where he set his things next to him and glanced out the window to look at the house one last time. He didn't think he would be leaving so soon and was drenched with a sense of sudden nostalgia and fear. He was leaving behind everything he had ever known.

Lana got into the car, turned the ignition on and turned back to look at the boy. "Johnny, are you okay?" It was as if she was asking him if he was okay with everything that had just happened. If he was okay with going home.

Johnny looked her in the eyes and said, "Yeah. I'm okay."

And with that, Lana Winters drove off, taking her son home.


	6. The Arrival

**A/N:** Couldn't sleep so I decided to write this up.  
Also, shout out to my girl, Pauly for that Emmy. She deserved it ever since Lana Winters.

.

 **SIX**

The Arrival

.

The boy didn't speak during the entire ride to his new home. He remained quiet in the back seat, looking out the window, watching the neighborhoods change from run down, to simple and finally to elegant. He became nervous when the car approached a tall black gate attached to red brick walls that surrounded the property. He glanced up to see the large, two story home in a pearl white with gray shutters and roman columns.

Lana stopped the car in front of the gate, rolled the window down and pressed in a code in a small black box in front of the gate, next to the mailbox. The gate slid open and Lana drove the car inside.

She parked it in front of the house at the top of the driveway and stepped outside. Johnny remained in the car, unsure of himself. Seeing his mother's large mansion like home made him feel that much aware of the laundry bag that held his only belongings. He felt embarrassed and doubted his self worth. He had a bad habit of doing that.

Lana opened his door. "Johnny, would you like to come inside?"

He nodded and got out of the car, holding the laundry bag at his side. His blues glanced up to the house and he couldn't believe it was his new home. It was far bigger than the boys' home.

Lana watched him study the house and gave him a sheepish smile. She placed her hand on his shoulder with some hesitance and reassured him, "I know this must be strange for you and it'll take some time to get used to but I'm sure eventually, you'll feel at home."

Johnny looked from the house to his mother and just gave her another silent nod.

He followed her up to the front door and inside where he instantly smelled the scent of fresh candles and perfume. The house was lavish with pearl white tiles and dark wooden floors. The walls were a pearly white with paintings from artists that Johnny had never even heard of. The foyer was vast with a round, glass table in the middle. It was adorned with a vase of flowers and an unlit candle. Lana placed her keys on the table while Johnny continued to explore.

His laundry bag hit the coat rack and he stepped aside. Next to the coat rack was a satin brass container holding in one black umbrella. He glanced down at his shoes and felt they were too dirty to stand on that porcelain tile. He then glanced up to the staircase in the middle of the foyer that lead to the second floor. On the right side was a fancy looking living room and on the left was a door that lead to what appeared to be a study.

"You don't have to stand there, you can come in." Lana gave him a soft smile and so Johnny stepped further in.

"Um," He mumbled, "My shoes are dirty…"

Lana glanced down at his feet to see his worn old shoes. She wasn't sure what the problem was besides him needing new shoes which she was sure to get him.

"And…it's so clean here."

"Oh," Lana understood, "Don't worry about that. This is your home now. You don't have to worry."

He nodded.

Lana then lead him up the stairs, as she did so she gave him a brief verbal tour. She pointed out her study and where the kitchen and family room were. The staircase made a slight round curve all the way up. The dark wooden floorboards continued on the second floor. A cream colored rug ran down the hallways and more paintings and portraits hung on the wall.

"My room is down there," She pointed down the hall and came to a stop in front of the door at the end of the hall. "And this is yours." She opened the door and let the boy step inside.

Johnny's mouth dropped open when he stepped inside the large room and looked around. It had been much bigger than the room he shared with the others boys. The room shared the same elegant dark wood floorboards with a navy rug in the middle. The walls were painted an olive color with white rims and finishing's. There was a bed, a desk and an empty bookshelf. There was an open door that led to a walk in closet and a large window with a reading nook that looked out into the backyard.

"How do you like it? I hope you do." Lana spoke up, slightly leaning on the doorway. "I don't know what you like so I'll let you fill it up yourself. How's that sound?"

Johnny turned in a circle, still marveling over the room. "Is this my room for real?" he met Lana's gaze.

Lana was a bit surprised by his question and nodded, "Yes, it is."

"All to myself?"

It was as if he couldn't believe it. Lana chuckled lightly, "Yes, all to yourself."

Johnny carefully made his way to the window, glancing out to the yard, "I've never had my own room before."

His words struck something in Lana and she felt the guilt begin to gnaw at her. She walked up to Johnny and stood next to him. "You won't have to worry about sharing a room with other children ever again. Okay?"

Johnny looked up at her and nodded. "Okay."

"Now, how about you put your things away and get some rest. We can have dinner later. How's that sound?"

He smiled and gave her a nod, "Okay."

"Okay." Lana repeated and left Johnny to himself.

Once she was gone, Johnny placed his laundry bag upon his new bed. He felt the softness of the navy and white striped comforters and looked at the plush white and navy blue pillows. There were at least five of them.

He looked around the room once more and then down at his laundry bag. It had taken him years to take his belongings out at the home. Johnny was hesitant to take them out again. What if his mother changed her mind? What if he wasn't what she really wanted? There would be no use in unpacking.

Johnny felt sick at the thought and sat down next to his bag, not bothering to unpack. He lay back on the pillows after a moment and began to doze off, hoping he woke up in the same room.

.

 _"Lana are you serious? We agreed on Sunday."_

"I know, Jack, I know." Lana spoke into the phone in her study.

 _"Then why do I get a call from Watts that you took the boy out today?"_ Jack Sullivan, Lana's lawyer on the matter blew up on the other end of the phone.

"You didn't see him. The poor boy had a black eye. What was I supposed to do? Just leave him there for a few more days to be tortured? No. Unacceptable."

Jack sighed on the other side, _"Lana, boys are boys. Things happen."_

"Well not to my son. Not anymore."

 _"I'd be terrified to have you as a mother."_ Lana could hear his joking tone.

Lana sat at her desk and exhaled a puff of air with a sheepish smile and a shake of the head, "I've let that boy suffer long enough."

 _"…I know you want to do right by him. Make up for all those years, but take it easy, Lana. He's got a lot to get used to. Not to mention…"_

"Not to mention what? What we spoke about before?" Lana questioned, sitting up straight. She took a quick glance of the black and white photo of Wendy she had framed on her desk. "I know children from the system are bound to have some issues. I'm very much aware of that."

 _"I know. Just don't be surprised when you don't bond right away. Be patient. He is a troubled boy. The system does that to kids."_

"There were no issues in his file aside from his confrontation with other children. But you know how children can be so cruel…" Her eyes ventured from Wendy's portrait to the study door.

 _"Yes. How is he so far?"_

"Fine." She answered, "In his room resting."

 _"Alright then, Lana. I'm going to file in that you took him today. I'll sent you the final copy of the documents later this week."_

"What documents?" Lana couldn't remember.

 _"The ones that state your full custody of the boy."_

Lana felt herself smile if only a bit, "So he's finally mine now?"

 _"Lana, he's always been yours."_

"I just lost him for a moment there, I guess." She half joked.

 _"Yeah,"_ Jack chuckled on the other end, " _Don't do it again."_

"I can assure you I won't."

.

The two of them sat in the large dinning table in the dinning room. Lana had ordered food for dinner. She wasn't sure what Johnny liked to eat and didn't want to wake him to ask so she ordered Italian and hoped it would be fine with him.

Johnny sat at her right hand side at the table. He was a bit hesitant to use the elegant utensils but relaxed after a few bites. They ate in silence, not sure what to tell one another. Lana wanted to ask him so many things but she didn't know where to start or what would be appropriate to ask.

"Do you like the food?" A silly question but she wanted to engage in a conversation with him.

The reason they had settled on Sunday was because she wanted to take the weekend to visit him so they could become familiar with one another before she took him home. However, upon seeing the bruise on his face, she changed her mind.

The boy nodded. "Mhm."

"Have you had Italian before?"

"Ms. Anne made spaghetti all the time but not this good." Johnny admitted, "Did you make it?"

Lana laughed, "No, I'm not very good in the kitchen." She grabbed her wine glass and took a drink. She then noticed Johnny look at the garlic bread. He had already eaten one piece and looked like he wanted another but was hesitant.

"Would you like more?" She asked him.

"Can I?"

"Can you? Of course you can."

"Really?"

She chuckled again, almost in disbelief, "Yes, really. Why—" It then hit her. Johnny had been limited to food all of his life. Sharing a home with multiple children she was sure there wasn't enough to go around all of the time.

Mrs. Watts, one of Johnny's social worker in the case said he might have some habits like this.

"Johnny, you can have all the food you want. Okay? You don't have to ask."

"Okay." Johnny said and reached for another bread stick.

When they finished dinner, there was still a silence between them. Johnny gazed around the dinning room and placed his napkin on the table. "No one else lives here?" He asked.

"No. It was just me before you came along. Oh, and sometimes June is here."

"June?"

"The housekeeper."

"Oh."

Later after dinner, Lana took Johnny up to his room. He still looked tired and she knew he had an emotionally draining day. Not to mention he ate so much garlic bread he was sure to doze off from a food coma.

"There's a pair of pajamas in the drawer." She told him, "I hope they fit. Don't worry, we'll go get you some new clothes later in the week."

She left him to change. Johnny opened the drawer and took the pajamas out. He then grabbed the towel Lana had left for him and took it to the bathroom across the hall to shower.

The bathroom was bigger than the one he shared with the other boys. It was made out to semi match his room and make it his. At first, Johnny couldn't figure out the shower but eventually did and hopped in.

Wen he was done and dressed in his pajamas, he went back to his room and got into bed. He reached for his jacket and dug into the pocket to bring out his broken glasses. He could see rather okay without them but everything from afar was blurry and caused him to squint.

He sighed but put them away when there was a knock at the door. "Come in."

Lana stepped inside, "Doing okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

Lana stopped at the side of his bed. "May I?"

He nodded and she sat down. Lana kept her gaze on him. "I'm sure you're wondering why I took you out of the home today and not on Sunday like originally planned."

"Because I got into a fight, I know."

Lana nodded.

"It wasn't my fault." He defended himself.

"What happened?" Lana asked.

He shrugged, "Sometimes the other kids get mad when someone leaves. They get mad 'cause it's not them."

His words made Lana think and she felt sadness in her. Still, she would not stand for anyone harming her boy.

"Well, you won't have to put up with that anymore. Alright?"

The boy nodded.

"I'm sure you have plenty of other questions too. Am I right?"

Johnny only shrugged. "I don't know…"

"I'm sure you're wondering why I came back after so long."

He glanced up to meet her eyes and nodded.

"It's alright to ask." She looked down for a moment.

"Where were you?" Johnny found himself asking. "How come…how come you left…"

Lana could see the questions were hard for him to answer and he fought back the tears of confusion and frustration that filled him for years.

Lana opened her mouth to answer him but she didn't know what to say or where to start. The fact that she had been raped by a maniac murderer was definitely not where she wanted to start.

"I thought I was doing the right thing by letting you go." She admitted, "I thought you would be better off without me." She left out the part that she couldn't bring herself to love Bloody Face's son and that her fame was more important at the time. She just couldn't tell him that yet. Not when they were just starting.

"But I was wrong." Lana admitted. "I was very wrong."

"Did my real dad think that too?"

Lana met his gaze and she held firm. She sat straight and took a exhaled a deep breath. Of course Oliver didn't think that. Oliver loved the child as soon as he heard of his existence.

"Johnny, I want you to understand something clearly. That man, he's—" She paused for a moment not sure how to continue, "It be better to just forget about him. He died a long time ago."

Johnny's eyes fell and he couldn't help but to feel a little sad about the father he never knew but in a way he was all right with that. Finding his mother was what mattered more to him and he had.

"I know you'll have a lot of questions about him too. A lot of questions that will be hard for me to answer but I want you to be patient."

He nodded, "Okay. I will."

She smiled softly, "Okay." And stood to her feet, "Now, get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

She walked to the door.

"Um, M—mom ?" Johnny called out to her, unsure if he could call her that yet.

When Lana heard him call her "Mom", she stopped in her tracks and turned to meet his gaze just as she reached the door. "Yes?"

Johnny became nervous for a moment, not wanting her to leave but knew she had to go to bed. "Goodnight." He ended up saying.

Lana's lips pulled into a smile, "Goodnight, Johnny boy." She turned off his light and closed the door behind her.

Johnny lay back on his pillow, letting the nickname sink in. He liked it, especially because his mother had given it to him. How could he have been better off without her? Johnny didn't understand. Perhaps one day he would.


	7. The New Beginning

**Don't Own AHS**

 **A/N:** Haven't been updating much, my apologies! Been out and about lately.  
Roanoke update: Idk if it's the lack of an opening scene this season that makes me super grumpy about it? Or the feeling that not enough happens in every episode. I'm interested so far. Episode 3 left me with a ton of questions but I'm still gonna watch a bit more before I fully decide how much I like it.

PS. Sarah slaying in them jeans. *insert 'ok' hand emoji *  
She deserves another emmy in them jeans alone.

.

 **SEVEN**

The New Beginning

.

The boy woke with a start from a dream of a nun slapping his hands raw with a ruler. It had seemed like a nightmare but it was only a vague memory of his early childhood. He sat up, alarmed and somewhat confused, reaching over to the lamp on the nightstand. When the light flashed on, it revealed his new bedroom.

For a moment, he was relieved to have woken up in his new bedroom in his mother's house. He was afraid of waking up at the home with the other boys all crammed in the same room.

Unable to fall back to sleep, Johnny got up and made his way down the hall. He stopped outside Lana's bedroom and lifted his hand to knock upon the fine wood but resisted. He didn't want to bug her like a little child would. So he turned his back to the door and wandered down stairs.

Johnny went straight to the kitchen where he found the left overs in the fridge and sat at the kitchen island to eat them. He figured Lana wouldn't mind since she had said it was okay. So he ate them cold while he looked around the large kitchen, remembering that Lana had mentioned she wasn't one for cooking.

From what he knew, Lana wasn't the typical mother he had seen on TV. She wasn't some random housewife; she didn't cook or wore an apron half the time. She had an important job and wasn't tied down by stereotypical norms. The thought didn't bother the boy. He was just glad to be with her.

When he was finished, he washed his plate and continued to explore the rest of the house. In the living room he found expensive decorations and portraits of Lana with people Johnny didn't know but looked awfully important. Of course, Lana was a famous reporter; she knew a lot of people.

Johnny found the television set and plopped down in front of it. He turned the knob on and lowered the volume. He changed a couple of channels but all there was to watch was the flag followed by the National Anthem. He turned the television off and made his way back up stairs to bed.

.

Lana and Johnny had breakfast together the following morning in the kitchen. He sat at the island while she stood across from him. There was silence between them and Lana didn't really to know what to say to him. She had already asked him how he had slept. She had woken up to find him still asleep in his room. He must have woken up in the middle of the night because the left overs had been finished. Lana smiled at the thought but she wished he had woken her. She didn't want him to feel alone in his first night home.

She watched him eat his pancakes for a moment, studying his features. Lana separated the ones that belonged to Oliver from the ones that belonged to her. She hadn't meant to but she couldn't help to do so. Alas, he was a handsome boy in her unbiased opinion.

"Would you like another?" She asked when he finished his first two pancakes.

"Yes, please." He answered.

"Coming right up." She smiled and took his plate to serve him another.

Pancakes weren't her specialty. Hell, nothing really was but so far Johnny hadn't complained about them. Truth be told, Lana's subpar cooking skills were the best food Johnny had in his entire life. Everything was better than the food at the home.

Lana served him the plate and placed it back in front of him. "So, I was hoping we could get you some new glasses today. I'll call the optometrist after breakfast to make you an appointment for later today. How's that sound?"

Johnny took a drink from his orange juice and set it down. "Good."

"Good." Lana confirmed.

She noted the bruise on Johnny's face was still present but would fade away in a couple of days.

"Maybe then we could stop by the department store and get you some clothes you like. I'm not sure what styles you like."

"Clothes?" Johnny asked a bit confused.

"Yes," Lana said, "Wouldn't you like some?"

Johnny shrugged, "I don't know. I've never bought any."

"Where do you get your clothes then?"

"From the older kids. Sometimes the nuns bring them." He answered.

Lana felt the need to hug the poor boy but she refrained from showing any indication that hand me downs were something to be ashamed of. As long as he had clothes on his back, that was all that mattered.

"Well, we'll get you some new ones." Lana stated, "Don't you worry."

She went around to collect his now empty plate and set her hand upon Johnny's face like she did the day on the playground where they first met. Her thumb brushed his cheek, just below his bruised eye. "First things first, let's get those eyes checked, hmm?"

Johnny nodded, his eyes on hers, still overwhelmed by the attention of his mother. Lana gave him a smile and dropped her hand from his face when the phone rang.

"Go ahead and watch TV, Johnny boy. I'll be right with you." She left the kitchen to answer the phone.

Johnny did as he was told and went to the living room to watch TV. This time he found channels broadcasting and picked a channel playing reruns of Bewitched. He sat on the sofa and watched the show but couldn't help to hear Lana's voice coming from her study.

.

 _"Are you insane?"_ Lana's agent's voice boomed through the phone. _"Can you imagine what this is going to do to your image?"_

"I could care less about my image anymore." Lana sighed into the phone, keeping her voice down, "I knew you wouldn't approve."

 _"Of course I wouldn't. How is this going to make you look? Like a liar, Lana. A liar. You wrote in that book that your child was dead and now it turns out you've taken him out of foster care?"_

"Claire, you knew the truth from the very beginning. I have never lied to you."

 _"Of course I did but your fans don't know. What are they going to think? That your child magically rose from the dead?"_

Lana glanced towards the door where Johnny was just at the other side in the living room. She knew her book had lied about her child with Bloody Face. As far as the world knew, that child was dead. But what _was_ she going to tell her readers? And most importantly, what was she going to tell Johnny? That Lana hadn't thought through.

 _"You've dug yourself a hole, Lana. You told the world the child was dead. What are you going to do?"_

.

Johnny could hear Lana's voice from behind her study's doors. She sounded a bit frazzled, as if she was arguing with someone. Curiosity caught the best of him and Johnny stood from the sofa and went to Lana's study, stopping at the door to knock and ask if everything was okay. He was somehow nervous that it was his social worker calling to take him back. It seemed silly but the fear was there.

He was about to knock when he heard Lana speak.

"People don't have to know. At least not right away." She paused, "I deserve some privacy in my life and my son does too."

Johnny grew confused, not sure what she meant but continued to listen.

On the other side of the door, Lana continued to argue with Claire.

 _"Sooner or later the truth is going to come out and it's going to bite you hard."_ She warned Lana. " _I think it would have been best to leave things as they were…"_

"You don't understand, Claire." Lana spoke softly, "You've never lived with that kind of regret."

 _"Regret or not. You have an image to uphold. What if people start questioning other things in your book?"_

Lana grew a bit nervous and put her fingers to her temple, her head was beginning to ache with the stress of it all. She was really in a hole.

"I don't know. I'll find a way."

 _"You better."_ Claire warned.

"I always do, don't I?"

 _"It's what you're good at."_

And with that, Lana hung up the phone. She then went to open the door and was surprised when she found Johnny standing there. He looked surprised and somewhat guilty. "Johnny? Is everything okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Paranoid that he heard something, she placed her hands on his shoulders and walked him back to the living room. "How about you sit tight a bit longer? I'm gonna go make that call."

"Okay." He nodded and sat down, watching her retreat back into her office.

.

Being out in the real world with Lana Winters was a surreal experience. Not because she was often recognized by people who watched her on TV because Johnny had never run errands with his mother before. It was an all new experience and one he found both exciting and boring.

The optometrist visit had been a dull affair for the most part. However, Johnny had never been to such a clean and fancy establishment before and was a bit nervous to meet with the doctor. However, the visit went well and Johnny stepped out of the office with a new pair of temporary glasses while his new ones arrived in a few weeks. Lana had let him pick out whichever frames he wanted and he went with a pair that was much similar to his old ones.

They had lunch out in the city. Johnny seemed pretty excited to Lana when the waiter asked him what he wanted to order. At first she seemed a bit confused and then realized it was something he had probably never done before. She let him pick what he wanted off the menu and then some. Johnny ate with much vigor, pleased with his choice of meal and Lana was glad for that.

"That bruise is looking much better." She commented.

Johnny didn't respond. He just continued to eat away at his plate.

"Do things like that often happen to you?" She hadn't wanted to ask but the words slipped out.

Johnny stopped eating and sat his fork down. He only shrugged.

Lana reached across the table to give his hand a light squeeze. "You can tell me these things, Johnny boy. I know it'll take time for you to fully trust me but you can."

"I know." He nodded. "Thanks."

.

Johnny watched the world from the passenger window of the car while they made their way home. He still had so many questions to ask Lana but was hesitant. Of course he wanted a deeper answer of why she had given him up. She hadn't quite given him a decent response.

"Why do you live alone?" Johnny blurted out of nowhere.

Lana was a bit surprised but the question didn't offend her or take her by surprise. "I don't mind it." She answered.

"What about your family and stuff?"

Lana kept her eyes on the road, "It's just me."

The boy felt bad for asking and just glanced out the window again. "If my dad died…how come you didn't get married again?"

Lana looked at Johnny for a quick moment, "I knew you had a lot of questions but this one sure is something."

"Sorry." He muttered.

"Don't be." She put her eyes back on the road. "Before your—that man…I was with someone else."

"Where are they?"

Lana's hands gripped the wheel tightly, "They died a long time ago too."

.

Later that night, Johnny wanted to wish Lana goodnight before he went to bed. He went downstairs and checked the kitchen but she was not there. Nor was she in the living room. The boy wandered towards the foyer in the direction of her study. He knocked on the door and when she didn't answer, he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Hello?" He called out, "M—Mom?" He was still nervous about calling her 'mom' but what else was he going to call her? She was his mother after all.

Lana was not in her office and Johnny thought about leaving to go find her upstairs but was pulled in by the mere sight of his mother's study. The walls were adorned with portraits of Lana with people he had seen on TV, portraits of her holding awards and certificates, portraits of old news clippings and of covers of books.

Johnny went around her desk to the book case behind it. On one of the middle shelves was a framed picture of Lana holding a red book and smiling at the camera. The book she was holding in the picture was posed right next to the frame.

Johnny looked over his shoulder and reached for the book. He brought it down into his hands and read the cover: Maniac by Lana Winters.


	8. The Little Things

**A/N:** Hi, everyone! I hope you've all been doing well in my absence. I've been just super busy and all over the place that I haven't had the time to update anything. But I'm fine, I'm not dead lol.

I'm still watching Roanoke and uh, well? I'm honestly not liking it at much as I did when the first episode came out. I don't know. To me the first episode felt very much like the old AHS without the opening but now it doesn't feel very AHS to me at all. I don't feel very connected to any of the characters. The plot feels really messy and just everywhere and not in the way Hotel or Freak Show was. I mean it's fun to watch but like I said, it just feels all over the place. One thing I did like was how cozy Sarah Paulson dressed as Shelby. Those comfy socks and dem UGGS girl. Also, a moment of silence for dem jeans. Dang.

Speaking of Sarah Paulson…MY GIRL LANA COMING TO ROANOKE. I can't lie, I'm very giddy about that.

Anyway, long rant over.

 **CH 8** \- The Little Things

The boy marveled over the book in his hands. He turned it around and skimmed through random words on the book's bio next to the photograph of his mother. Her hair was shorter back then but she was just as beautiful and elegant. He caught only a few words of interest and turned it back around.

For some reason Johnny felt like he shouldn't be holding that book. As if it was too important for him to damage it with his fingerprints but the curiosity was strong within him. It was a sense of curiosity that always got him in trouble.

Johnny opened the book but before he could read the first words of the first chapter the doors to the study opened.

"Johnny?"

The boy jumped and dropped the book to the ground. He quickly picked it back up and placed it back where he found it with clumsy, fumbling hands.

Lana caught him in the act, "What are you doing?"

"S—sorry, I— I didn't mean to—I—" He stepped back from the shelf, nervous that Lana would yell at him and hit him like the nuns in the orphanage would.

Of course Lana's heart stopped cold when she saw the boy holding the book. Her first instinct was to scream and shield him away from it but she forced herself to remain calm as if nothing was wrong.

"That's quite alright. You're curious, I know." She walked up to him.

"I'm sorry." He glanced up at her, feeling ashamed for what he had done.

All Lana could do was reassure him. "It's okay." Her voice shook a little, trying to hide the fact that it was not okay but she didn't want to make the boy feel bad. After all, he was only curious of her work. That was to be expected.

"You wrote it?" he asked, eyes still on the book now sitting on the shelf.

"Yes."

"What's…what's it about?" Johnny's eyes went from the book to its writer.

Where to begin? Lana thought. It was about her, about Briarcliff, about Sister Jude, Kit, Grace, the patients, the injustice, the cruelty…but most importantly, it was about Oliver Thredson.

"It's about a time in my life." Was all she told him.

"Can I read it?"

"No!" Lana snapped but quickly calmed herself and sighed gently. Lana placed her shaky hands on Johnny's shoulder and led him out of the study. "Not right now, Johnny boy. It's not a book for children."

"How come?" He asked, looking back at her from over his shoulder.

"It just isn't." She kept firm.

Lana accompanied the boy up to his bedroom and helped tuck him in. She imagined what it would have been like to tuck him in as a child but then was just as good. Johnny didn't seem to mind it; in fact he liked the attention he had never received before.

Lana sat on the edge of the bed, hands on the blanket. Johnny looked right at her, "Why's it called that?"

"Called what?" Lana's mind had wandered and wasn't aware that Johnny was still referring to the book.

"Maniac." He answered, sitting up a bit more, "Why'd you call it that?"

Lana became nervous again and her words jumbled. She just stared back at him unsure of what to say.

"Whose the maniac?"

Lana glanced away, feeling the heat of the spotlight burn just a little bit hotter. "I'll answer all your questions another time, Johnny boy. Now it's getting late."

"But I'm not tired—"

" _Now_ , Johnny, please." Lana almost lost her temper with the boy but forced herself to remain calm. She didn't want to scare him or give him the impression that she was a bad person. She was just afraid of the boy hating her so suddenly. So she forced a smile and said, "One day I'll let you read my book but not now, ok?"

Johnny only nodded and lay back down. He didn't want to upset her and cause her to take him back to the home so he let the subject go. Johnny knew better but his curiosity often got the best of him. Not to mention the fact that he wanted to know more about the woman that was his mother. He knew so little about her aside from the fact that she was on TV but he didn't really know the other reasons why she was so famous. All he knew was that she was a reporter. That was all.

"Okay." He repeated, resting his head on the pillow.

Lana smiled at him and caressed his cheek once more. "Goodnight, Johnny boy." She took off his temporary glasses and set them on the nightstand, then stood to leave.

"Goodnight." He called after her.

Lana turned at the door and gave him one last sad smile, "Sweet dreams."

.

The playground was covered with the screams and shouts of various children chanting over and over, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The boy was shoved back, his body crashing against the thick brick wall of the building. His cheeks were rosy red from exhaustion; trying to get back the air that had been knocked out of him. He darted daggers at his opponent. A taller boy from the home he had just left days ago.

The fight had combusted so quickly like a rapid flame fueled by jealousy and confused anger. Johnny hadn't been looking for a fight but his smart mouth in reply to the other boy's insult had caused him a tackle to the floor. And when the fight escalated, more children gathered starting to chant and edge the boys on.

Growing up in a home, Johnny was more than capable of defending himself against someone his size. The other boy was only slightly taller but they were of the same age. Angry and annoyed of being picked on, the boy fought back. He pushed himself from the wall and tackled the other boy to the ground, he wound his tight fist back but before he could let the blow hit, a hand grabbed his wrist.

Both boys looked up to see the angry face of a teacher.

.

At the station downtown, Lana sat in her chair while Nancy fixed her hair and touched up her make up.

"C'mon Winters, we go on soon." Called out the camera man.

"Reporting on set is not my idea of a good story." Lana commented, "I'd rather be out there in action."

"Well, not to fret Ms. Winters," Nancy replied, "It's just until Ted can get his ass back on set."

"Food poisoning is quite the worst, isn't it?"

"Only since you pay for it."

"Five minutes!" called the camera man.

One of the assistants went hurrying up to Lana, "Miss Winters?"

"Yes?" Lana asked.

"You have a message." He handed her a piece of paper.

"Whose it from?" Lana frowned but opened the note before the assistant could answer her. Lana read the words quickly to herself. "Oh, shit."

.

Johnny sat on a bench in the empty hallway with his head down. Brown hair a mess, clothes ruffled, angry scowl on his young face. He been sitting there for a while now. How long exactly he didn't know but it felt like hours. School had been let out and the other boy had been sent home with the minor consequences but Johnny knew he would be sent to bed without dinner. It was their usual punishment amongst other things.

Johnny grew nervous when he realized he didn't know what his punishment would be. He had never had the principal call his mother to the school. He had never had a mother.

The boy grew sick to his stomach at the thought of disappointing Lana. He had only been with her for a few days; she was sure to take him back to the home. Johnny's heart gripped at the thought of being abandoned again. He didn't know how well he would be able to take it; knowing what it felt to have a mother and losing her all over.

Johnny glanced up when a door slammed shut around the corner and into the next hall. His heart skipped a beat when he saw his mother turn the corner and stride down the hall; dressed elegantly with sunglasses on. He sat up and prepared to say something but thought against it and closed his mouth, waiting instead to be spoken to first. Lana didn't speak a word to the boy and went straight into the principal's office.

Johnny lowered his head, ashamed and his shoulders slumped. What had he done.

He then heard her voice behind the door followed by that of his principal. There was a pause and then her voice escalated into a fierce argument. Johnny jumped to his feet and pressed his ear against the door.

"Is this how you decide to run this school?"

He heard her demand through the door.

"My son was attacked by some bully and now he's to blame? What is the matter with this establishment?"

The principal answered in a lower tone.

"No, this is unacceptable."

Johnny pushed away from the door and sat back down. He kept his glance ahead, nervous and afraid of what was to happen next. The next ten minutes felt like a life time until the doors opened and Lana came out. She looked absolutely furious.

"Let's go, Johnny." She told him and Johnny immediately obliged.

He jumped up from the bench and followed after her. He looked over his shoulder to see his principal standing at the door looking awfully serious. He then turned and went inside the office, closing the door behind him.

.

The drive home was quiet and Johnny felt the guilt begin to eat him alive, starting at his toes. He fidgeted in the back seat, stealing glances up at Lana who kept her eyes on the road and remained silent. When he looked away, Johnny glanced out the window, making sure Lana wasn't heading in the direction of the home. He began to panic and was sure to bolt out the door if he saw any sign that they were close by.

Instead of driving him to the home, Lana drove him to _their_ home. She parked the car in the driveway and got out. Johnny was hesitant but followed after her. He shut the car door close and stood by the car, one hand on the strap of his backpack, watching Lana with saddened yet cautious eyes.

Lana didn't hear him follow after her and stopped to turn around. She found the boy still standing by the car and raised a brow. "Johnny? Are you coming in?"

Johnny remained silent.

Lana glanced up at the sky. "I'm sure it'll start to rain later. Don't want to get wet, do you?"

Johnny hung his head and followed after her.

.

Lana watched the boy from the kitchen glass doors that lead out to the backyard. He roamed around the vast yard; kicking a soccer ball she had bought him prior to his arrival. He kicked it slowly and solemnly with his hands in his pockets. He looked so down and Lana knew he was worried over what had happened at the school.

Lana hadn't said a thing to him all the way home. Not because she was mad at him, she was mad at the school. At his principals and at the teachers that did nothing to help him. She said nothing all the drive home because she was trying to think what she was going to do with him. If she was going to move him schools or keep him there. She would hate to keep him in a place where he was treated so poorly but she didn't want to change his world too much too soon.

So far, she hadn't asked him what he wanted. It then hit Lana.

She hadn't taken the time to fully as him about himself.

It had all happened so fast. She had taken him home so abruptly and there had been no time to get to know him. Once he was home, she was bombarded by her chief editor and her manager. She had failed to take the time.

Well, it wasn't too late.

Lana stepped out into the yard, arms crossed, calm expression about her face. "Hope you're not too bored out here by yourself."

Johnny glanced up. He shook his head.

Lana sighed, "Would you like to talk about what happened at the school today?"

Johnny glanced away, anger rising in his eyes. "It wasn't my fault."

"I know."

Johnny instantly looked up at her, confusing and disbelief in his expression. As if he had expected Lana not to believe him.

Lana smiled faintly, "I know, Johnny. I believe you."

"You do?"

"Of course I do. You're my son." She reached over and brushed his face.

Johnny felt his heart skip a beat and his eyes began to water. When Lana dropped her hand from his face he quickly wiped his eye of any tear. To hear Lana say that to him; it made him feel valid, important and loved. It made him feel like he truly belonged to her and with her.

But the questions still ran through his mind.

 _Why did you leave me?_

 _Didn't you love me?_

 _Didn't you want me?_

 _Why?_

He wanted to ask her again; not having felt satisfied enough with her answer the first time. He wanted to but he was afraid. He wanted to belong.

"What's the matter?" Lana asked when she saw the conflict in his eyes.

He shook his head and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "No one's believed me before."

Lana placed her hand on his shoulder and led him to the white garden bench and took a seat. "Well, I believe you." She sighed, "Your principal is daft if he thinks I'm going to let this slide."

"What slide?"

Lana met his eyes, "He thinks you're the problem."

Johnny scoffed and looked away. "I'm always the problem…" He muttered but Lana heard him.

"Hey," She grabbed his attention, "You're not the problem. _They_ are."

"But they won't believe me."

"That's their problem. Not ours. And especially not yours."

Johnny sighed, "I'm just gonna keep getting in trouble…and the guys, they're not gonna treat me any better."

"That boy, he was from the home, wasn't he?"

Johnny nodded.

"Well," Lana sighed softly, "He's just hurt, Johnny. He's hurt and he's jealous of you."

"Why me?"

"Because you got to go home and he didn't."

Johnny met her gaze and nodded. "Yeah. I guess so."

Lana forced a smile. "Hey, enough of all the sadness. It was just one bad day. It doesn't mean they will all be like this."

He nodded in agreement.

"Okay, now, what would you like for dinner? Maybe some pizza?" Lana frowned lightly, "You do like pizza, right?"

Johnny laughed a little and nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Lana frowned lightly, "I can't believe I'm your mother and yet I don't know what you like."

"S'cause you were gone for so long." He replied.

Lana nodded, "I was. And again I'm sorry." She placed her hand on his. "Can you forgive me?"

Johnny nodded. "Yeah."

Lana smiled, "Now, tell me. What else do you like?"

"To eat?"

"Anything. Everything." She smiled.

Johnny smiled too and forgot about his school problems. "I like chocolate."

"Chocolate? I like chocolate too. What else do you like?"

"Pizza."

"What kind?" She rested her cheek on her fist to listen to his words. It was kind of magical to see the way his eyes lit up after being filled with so much darkness.

"Cheese." He then frowned, "But I like pineapple too. But the boys used to make fun of me for it. They said it's gross."

"I don't think I've ever tried it with pineapple."

"Ever?" Johnny looked aghast.

Lana laughed. "Ever."

"You should."

"I will. Now, what else?"

"I like macaroni and cheese. Chicken too. I don't like sprouts or peas. I don't like tuna either." He made a face at the word.

"Okay, no tuna, peas or sprouts."

And so Johnny went on telling her the things he liked. So far Lana had learned that he liked books, comics, learning about dinosaurs and animals. He liked music too. All the things Lana wished she had learned sooner. Things she would have known if she had kept him. Well, there was no lamenting it now.

A single rain drop fell from the sky and landed upon Johnny's hand. He looked up at the sky, "It's gonna rain."

"Let's head inside now." She stood and extended him her hand.

Johnny took it without hesitation and followed her inside, leaving all his insecurities out in the rain for that moment.

.

After Johnny went to bed, Lana hid herself in her study. She stood in front of the bookcase, staring at the Maniac, questioning its existence. She took it off the shelf and studied it. It had once been her most wondrous achievement. Now it felt so unimportant, so haunting. It made no sense.

Lana sighed and opened the bottom drawer of her desk, dropping the book inside and locking it shut with a key. One day the boy would learn the truth but not that night or the next. For now Lana just wanted to build a life for the boy. A life without her ghosts.


	9. The Ghosts in the Past

**Don't Own AHS**

 **A/N** : A million apologies on my lack of updates. Between being sick and being stuck doing nothing but Skyrim on my free time, I've neglected my writing. Terrible.  
Also, it was brought to my attention that I totally skipped Johnny's birthday in 'Dear Johnny' in the most recent chapter so expect a rewrite of that chapter lol  
Anyway, enjoy guys!

.

 **NINE**

The Ghosts in the Past

.

 _The cracks and whips of rulers upon young, supple skin buried deeply within the young boy's mind. He sat against the wall, knees to his chest, hands covering his ears, blocking out the cries of the child on the other side of the door in front of him. Young Johnny kept his eyes shut close, tears running down his cheeks. One of his little index fingers still bled from the glass shards on the kitchen floor._

 _It had been an accident. They had sworn it so._

 _"No! No! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The boy on the other side of the door pleaded._

 _But it wasn't of any use. It never was. There was no pleading for forgiveness from the women in black and white habits. The only forgiveness was the one from the man on the cross. The man that never replied to their prayers._

 _WHIP!_

 _CRACK!_

 _Johnny flinched and shut his eyes closer. He could feel his heart wildly beating against his tiny chest. At only four he knew that stinging pain too well._

 _There was a calmness followed by silent cries softly drowning._

 _Heavy heeled steps came to the door, opening it. There was a stern clearing of an old voice. Johnny opened his eyes and lowered his shaking hands. He glanced up at the nun before him. She peered down at him with hawk like eyes of disapproval._

 _Johnny's lower lip trembled._

 _She stuck out her thin, shriveled finger and gestured him forward._

 _Johnny forced his lip to stop trembling and forced himself up to his feet. He could hear the boy still crying inside but kept himself from looking at the mess he would soon become. Without a single fight, he followed the nun into the room and she shut the door behind her._

 _._

The boy glanced up at the large gray stone building that housed one of Boston's best private schools. Lana placed her hands upon his shoulders and gave out a soft sigh. "Looks a little scary but it's one of the best."

All Johnny could think about was St. Ursula's Home for Lost Children— his first home. A knot grew in his stomach. The building was fuzzy in his memory but held much resemblance to the high and mighty school his mother was about to enroll him in.

Lana was adamant about letting Johnny return to his school after what had happened in the playground. She was aware it must have been going on for some while and the school was doing nothing to protect the boy. That had been clear from the beginning. Well, Lana wasn't going to stand it. She wasn't going to sit by and let her boy suffer injustice any longer.

"It's…big." Johnny muttered, extremely nervous.

"It'll be fine." She assured him and led him inside.

.

Inside they waited on a bench outside of the Dean's office. Johnny moved his leg up and down in a nervous motion. Lana glanced upon his hands set upon his knees and noticed a scar on the top of his left hand. She was about to ask when the Dean opened the door to his office and welcomed them in.

"I'm really hoping this will be a good fit for me boy." Lana told the Dean. Johnny's heart skipped whenever he heard her refer to him in such ways. It reminded him that he finally was where he belonged.

"Well, Miss Winters, it's not easy to enroll in our academy here but Johnny's grades are quite impressive." The Dean was old older man in his early fifties with salt and pepper hair. He was clean-shaven like a military man with a calm manner about him. As if he had never seen a battlefield in his life. He wore glasses like the ones Oliver Thredson once wore but Lana tried not to think about that.

He smiled at the boy.

Johnny pushed his glasses up, "Thank you."

"Also, your donation is very much appreciated, Miss Winters. I'm sure Johnny here will fit right in."

Lana grinned from ear to ear. "Wonderful." She turned to her son, "Isn't that great news to hear, Johnny boy?"

He nodded in response, "Yeah."

If Johnny was being honest with himself, he could care less about some fancy school but Lana looked so content, he wanted to please her. He was eager to prove himself to her. He didn't want to disappoint her.

"Alright then," The Dean went on. "There's just some things I'd like to go over with you. Johnny, if you'd like you can step out and wait in the library for your mother. It's just down the hall and up the staircase.

Johnny looked at Lana for an order. Lana nodded at him to go ahead and so he did. Before he closed the door behind him, he could hear the adults' tones grow serious.

.

The school's library was vast and plentiful. There was a wider selection than Johnny could have even dreamed of. Only a few older students in uniform roamed the place, quietly studying and reading to themselves. Johnny sat at one of the tables and waited.

.

Lana was in a great mood on the way home. She seemed rather serious at first when she picked up Johnny at the library but smiled for the boy. On the drive she went on about how exciting the change would be for him. When Johnny didn't respond right away Lana's expression turned serious and she sighed softly.

"You know why I had to take you out of there, right?"

"Yeah, I know." He responded, eyes out of the car window.

"I just want the best for you, Johnny. I skipped out on so many years of your life and I'd like to start giving you what you've always deserved."

"What if they don't like me there either?"

Lana frowned at this, "How could they not?"

He shrugged, eyes downcast now. "I don't know…"

"Listen to me, this is a new start. None of those kids will know anything you don't want them to. All right?"

"Okay."

Lana put her eyes back on the road. "Just trust me, please."

"I trust you."

This made Lana smile. "Do you now?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Or else I wouldn't have left with you."

Lana laughed. "Smart boy."

"Like you." The words slipped out of his mouth.

Lana's smile remained. "Yes. Like me." She sighed, "Let's just hope you make better life choices than I did."

"Was my dad smart too?" Johnny asked out of the blue, his eyes back out the window.

Lana brought the car to a slow stop at a stop sign. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly and slowly let go in means to calm herself. "He was something else."

.

"Johnny, go wash up for dinner." Lana said when they returned home.

"Kay!" Johnny called up on his way up the stairs and to his room.

He was still amazed every time he walked into his own room. It was like some kind of miracle to have his own space. There weren't multiple beds everywhere or random smells from what could only have been stashed food gone bad. It was his own space. No one else's.

.

Dinner usually started in pure silence. It was taking Johnny a little to open up to his mother but that was expected. He was still getting used to it all and she was sure it wouldn't take him long to do so. They still had a lot to learn from each other.

While Lana took a drink from her glass of wine, she noticed the scar on Johnny's left hand again as he lifted the fork to his mouth with it.

"That's quite the scar there, Johnny boy. Did you get that at school?"

Johnny glance down at the scar on his hand. "No." He shook his head. It's been there forever."

Lana half smiled, "Since when?"

"Since I was at St. Ursula's." He answered, taking another hungry bite from his dinner. His mind was far from the origin of his scar and more on the food on his plate.

Lana's smile faded. St. Ursula's. She knew the name very well. Of course, she was the one who had handed the boy over to them. She set her glass of wind aside and remembered back to Briarcliff when she watched Kit Walker get flogged with a cane. She snapped herself from the memories of the never-ending nightmare. However, it was now clear that even the boy had his own nightmares.

.

That night Johnny tossed and turned from nightmares of his time in St. Ursula's. He dreamt of waking back in the dark, creaky rooms of the old Victorian house. Ghostly figures in black habits floating down the hall. Long, shriveled fingers with sharp nails poking at his sides. Rulers and canes coming down upon him.

The boy woke with a gasp and immediately turned on the light, finding himself in his room. His room in his mother's house. Not his room at the boy's home and definitely not the room in St. Ursula's.

Johnny felt the heavy knot in his stomach travel up to his throat. He felt sick and fearful. As if the nuns from appear from his closet and drag him back to the darkness. He felt his hand ache as if the scar burned something fierce. It was always an ugly reminder of the day he shattered a glass vase in the kitchen where they weren't allowed. It was one of his earliest memories of being physically punished.

He didn't remember exactly how it all had happened. All he remembered was that he didn't cry.

Johnny opened the door to his bedroom and wandered down the hall. "Mom?" He called down the stairs hoping that Lana was still awake downstairs. All the lights were off from what he could see. When he didn't hear a response, he followed down the hall in the direction of her room.

When he reached her door he didn't bother knocking and went straight in, softly calling out to her, "M-mom? You awake?"

He had spotted the soft light seeping from beneath the door but despite the light being on, Lana laid in her king sized bed fast asleep. The lamp on the nightstand next to her was the only one on. Johnny stood on the side of the bed, Lana's back to him. He didn't want to wake he but he felt as alone as he did in the home.

Before he did, Johnny glanced around Lana's vast room until he noticed a medium sized framed photograph of a woman next to the lamp on the nightstand. She sat upon a bed with the sheets up to her chest, a cigarette in her hand, eyes on the camera that had caught the moment.

It was then Johnny noticed it was the only photograph Lana had in her room.


	10. The Woman in the Frame

**Don't own AHS**

 **A/N:** Hi, everyone! Hope you're all doing well. Finally got around to finishing up this chapter! Hope you enjoy. I skimmed through it super fast so I apologize for any typos, etc. More updates on other fics are also coming your way!

.

 **TEN**

The Woman in the Frame

She felt like strong, cold hands tightened around her neck, slowly shortening her breath. Lana looked up to her tormentor, fire in his eyes. A scream lodged in her throat, unable to make a sound. She heard his voice in the distance and with a jolt, she sat straight up, gasping for air.

Lana quickly looked around her to find herself in her lavish bedroom. She could have sworn she had felt a presence in the room with her. Alas, she was alone.

She glanced over to the portrait of Wendy upon the nightstand and gave out a soft sigh, "It never ends, does it?" She spoke to the photograph as if it would answer back.

After she managed to collect herself, Lana went to check on the boy. She found him fast asleep in his bed. He looked much younger than he was without his glasses. Almost like a little boy barely entering grade school. Lana watched over him, gently learning his every feature.

Johnny still seemed so unreal to her in many ways. He felt like a distant dream that she feared would disappear upon waking. And when she looked upon him in such an innocent light, she felt the guilt begin to devour her from within. How could she have abandoned something so pure? Untouched and unsullied by madness and evil. Because the boy was so young—too young to be blamed of anything.

Lana gazed at the fading bruise under his eye. It was barely visible now. She gently brushed her fingers along his temple, slightly brushing his hair out of the way. He looked a little like his father; she had to admit. Alas, they did say boys always resemble their mothers the most.

Johnny stirred and slowly opened his eyes. He became confused at the sight of Lana. "M—Mom?" He spoke groggily.

The word made Lana's stomach flip. She still wasn't used to it or felt worthy of it.

"What's wrong? What time is it?" He rubbed his still sleepy eyes.

"It's late." She answered, "Go back to sleep."

"Did you have a bad dream?" He asked, fighting back a yawn.

"Something like that." Her smile weakened.

"S'okay. They're not real." He rolled to the side and let sleep succumb him.

Lana stood a little surprised. He looked so young but in that moment he felt beyond his years.

.

In the morning Lana paced back and forth around the kitchen as far as the phone's extension cord would let her. Johnny sat at the breakfast table stuffing his face with French Toast and orange juice. He always ate like it had been his first meal and months and probably his last.

"Breathe while you chew, love." Lana reminded him, taking a short moment away from the phone and then went right back into the conversation.

Something about a signing. Or at least that's what Johnny understood. His attention was set on the television screen in the family room that was right in his view from the kitchen.

When Lana hung up to phone she sat at the table across from Johnny and released a heavy sigh. "I swear if I knew Joan Weathers would be this difficult to deal with I would have never agreed to that appearance." She mostly commented to herself. She then glanced over at Johnny who continued to stuff food in his face.

"A growing boy, aren't you?"

Johnny's eyes met hers. He swallowed the food in his mouth and his cheeks blushed. "I never had these before." He looked down at his plate.

Lana felt guilty again. "Well, you can have them whenever you want."

"Even for dinner?" He perked up.

Lana smiled, "Even for dinner."

Johnny grinned from ear to ear, "You're the coolest, Mom." And continued to eat.

Lana's smile slowly faded. If only he knew the truth of it all.

.

Johnny seemed to be settling in well in his new school. The first days went by without any incident. He seemed pretty reluctant at first; nervous that everyone would know he was an orphan. However, he no longer was. He was a new face to the entire student population and none of them knew where he came from, only that he was there now.

There were some things he had to get used to like his new uniform. On the first day he struggled with his tie.

"I can't do it." He grumbled in front of the mirror by his closet.

"Here, let me help." Lana grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around so he was facing her.

"This is dumb. Why do I have to wear a tie?"

Lana kept her eyes on her task, "It's part of the uniform."

"But why?" He questioned, "My old school didn't need uniforms."

"Well, this one does." Lana managed to fix his tie properly and stepped back looking at his uniform. Khaki pants, white button up, Navy coat, a maroon striped tie and brown loafers. He looked quite handsome, even with that disgruntled expression upon his face. "There, you look great."

"How did you do that?"

"My mother taught me how." Lana answered.

"Why? Girls don't have to wear ties." He faced the mirror to look at himself.

"Yes, well, she thought I should know in case I ever married." She placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Did you?"

"No." Lana forced a smile, "But it came in handy anyway because now I have a son—" She turned him around and tapped his nose, "I can teach. Now hurry up and gather your things."

.

"Why didn't you marry anyone?" the question came abruptly in the car on the drive to his new school.

Lana was stumped. She was sure he had asked her that before when he first arrived.

"I told you, remember? The person I loved…passed away."

"Well, I mean, after…you didn't meet anyone else?"

"No." Lana kept her eyes on the road.

"Why?" His curious began to peak through.

Lana drove the car around the corner to Johnny's school. "I just never really tried." She parked the car on the side of the street. Children dressed in uniforms covered the grounds, holding books and carrying satchels.

Johnny glanced out the window to see his new school. He was already dreading the rest of the day.

"Johnny?" Lana caught his attention, bringing his eyes back to her. She smiled at him, "I promise you that one day it'll all make sense. Okay?"

He nodded, "Okay."

.

Johnny awoke again that night from nightmares of nuns and rulers. He reached over to the nightstand and turned on the light. He sighed when he saw he was still in his room. It was then he heard soft music coming from down the hall. He stood from his bed and followed it.

Lana was still wide-awake in her room, pacing back and forth whilst she gathered her things for the following day. She had Billie Holiday playing on the record player on a soft volume as to not wake up the boy. The song playing reminded her of Wendy.

 _"All of me. Why not take all of me? Can't you see, I'm no good without you—"_

Lana sat at the edge of her bed and landed her soft gaze upon the photograph of Wendy that sat on her nightstand.

 _"Take my lips. I want to lose them. Take my arms. I'll never use them."_

Lana took the portrait into her hands. She gazed upon the face she no longer woke up to every morning. The pain was just as fresh as it had been that day down in the basement when Lana discovered Wendy's frozen body next to her.

 _"Your goodbye. Left me with eyes that cry. How can I go on dear without you?"_

Lana felt the old hatred make its way once again through her veins. "If only you had just held on…" She spoke softly to the frame. Her eyes swelled with tears that she tried her hardest to fight back. One slipped and she brushed it away just like all the rest.

"Mom?"

Lana heard his voice and quickly looked to the door where Johnny stood. He had a worried look upon his face.

"Johnny." She placed the portrait back on the nightstand, "What are you doing up? Another nightmare?"

Johnny didn't want to admit it but he nodded.

Lana patted the spot on the bed next to her. "C'mere."

Johnny entered the room and sat on the bed next to Lana.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes." She answered, smiling for him.

"Why were you crying?" He glanced over at the frame.

"I was just remembering."

"Remembering what?"

"Just things from a very long time ago."

Johnny looked at the picture again. Seeing a woman in such a provocative pose made him blush a little. "Who is that?"

Lana cleared her throat, fighting back the lump. She glanced at the photo. After all, she had promised to be honest with him. "That was Wendy. Wendy Peyser."

Johnny tilted his head slightly, "Was?"

"She died back in 1964."

"Oh." Johnny looked at the woman in the frame again. It was such a strange feeling to know she had died. At least to him it was. He didn't know her but death was still such a strange concept to him. "Was she your friend?"

Lana exhaled, "She was the love of my life."

Johnny frowned lightly, a bit confused, "You loved a woman?" His voice grew a little high pitched in surprise.

Lana laughed lightly at his reaction, "Yes, Johnny. I did."

Johnny nodded. "So that's why you never married her?"

Lana nodded and then studied his calm expression. "It doesn't bother you, does it?"

He met her gaze. "That you like girls? No. Why would it?" He almost seemed confused about it. As if it had always been something he knew or was perceived as normal.

"Well, because society still doesn't accept people like me."

"Society's stupid." He practically snorted at the fact. "That doesn't bother me."

Lana couldn't help to smile. Of course it didn't bother him. He was still too young to fully understand and besides, she could do no wrong in his eyes. But one day, that was going to change.

"D—did uh, did my dad know you liked girls?"

Lana hesitated but nodded silently.

He then paused, his brows pulled together in deep thought and realization. "Wait. If you like girls then how come—?"

Lana cleared her throat again. "It's getting pretty late and you have class tomorrow."

Johnny tilted his head back and groaned, "How come you never want to talk about him?"

"Johnny—" She didn't really know what to say.

"No." He remained firm, "I want to know about him. _Please_."

Lana sat back down, staring back at his gaze. "Do you really want to know?"

Deep down Johnny was nervous to know more about the man that was his biological father. What if he didn't like what he heard? What if he wasn't the great man he always thought him to be? Still. Johnny was as stubborn as the woman that brought him into the world.

"Yeah."


	11. Quick AN

A/N: Hey, everyone! Just wanted to check in real quick and let you know that this story is NOT dead. I've got a chapter in the works. It's about 70% done so please bear with me. Like I said I took a hiatus but I'm back now. Just trying to find the free time to update. But if I ever decide to quit, pause or end a story I will let you know. Hope everyone is doing well and expect some chapters coming your way soon :)


	12. The Saints and the Devils

**A/N:** Hi, everyone! I hope everyone's been doing well while I've been away. I've been road tripping around Ireland so I've been totally MIA. Anyway, now that I'm back home I'm going to try and update some stuff.

Also, apologies in advanced if this chapter is a bit short, I haven't worked on anything for a long while so I'm still trying to get back into the flow of things.

.

 **ELEVEN**

The Saints and the Devils

.

Johnny remembered the time one of the boys in the home returned to his birth mother's custody. He ran away within the week. The news had spread in the home like wildfire. Child abuse, was the word spoken between the caretakers. It terrified Johnny to think that such a thing could happen to him. To have the person he held on a pedestal be brought down by a cruel reality that not even he could have come up with in his worst moments. Nevertheless, the curiosity began to scratch away at him, picking small pieces of him little by little until he had to scratch the painful itch.

"Yeah."

His answer hung in the air, so powerful, so sure of itself. There was a moment in where he thought he would backtrack and deny to know anything. He had been so fickle about the truth, too afraid to know it and yet so brave to open the box and let everything out.

His mother stared back at him with pensive, serious eyes. There was still so much about her that he didn't know. So much she kept a secret. So much he was better off not knowing.

Lana glanced down, the boy's tenacity made her nervous. She always knew she would have to tell him the truth and the longer she held onto it, the harder it would be to unleash it.

"You're just a boy." The words left her lips before her mind could fully take control. She placed her hand upon his cheek, "You don't deserve that kind of suffering."

Johnny knew a lot about suffering. He had suffered since the very first memory he could muster.

"Do you suffer?" He asked, his voice a quiet timber.

Lana attempted to smile but failed. "Every day. The remorse eats me alive."

Johnny placed his hand on her wrist, wanting to keep her hand there. He had never felt so safe in the presence of another human being.

"What remorse?"

"Giving you up." She answered, "Lying for my own good."

Johnny frowned at this, not really understanding what she meant by that. He looked around the room, getting a glance of his mother's personal space. It was clear that Lana liked her comfort; and it had been more comfort than Johnny had endured in his entire life in the system.

"I'm not just a kid..." He met her gaze, "I can understand."

Lana sighed and pulled him into a hug he was not expecting but welcomed. "My sweet boy." She whispered to him, "You deserve better than the people who brought you into this world."

"Why do you say that?" He asked with sadness in his tone. His eyes ventured off to the portrait of Wendy Peyser.

"I'm not a saint, Johnny." Lana grabbed his attention once more, "And your father...he was a devil in human flesh."

Johnny's eyes widened with fear, Lana's words had taken him off guard. He always held his mother in high regard. He had been so thrilled when he saw her on the television outside of that store. His mother was an important person, how could she not be a saint?

"W-what? Why do you say that?"

She brushed the hair out of his forehead, "There are so many things I want to protect you from. Things that lead me to give you up in the first place. Your father was one of them. I know I've said other things before but back then, back when you were just a newborn, I...I knew the truth was something I could never face."

Johnny frowned, "I don't understand." He became frustrated with himself, just stating seconds ago that he could but Lana didn't give him any straight answers.

Lana thought about Maniac. How she wished she could lie to the boy all night about the man his father was. But that book...that book was there to slap her back into reality. He would find out. There was no denying that. She never wanted to confuse the boy and yet there she was even confusing herself with the web of lies and attempted truths.

"Your father was not a decent person. He hurt a lot of people, including myself. He..." Lana glanced at the photograph of Wendy, "He is unimportant. He's dead."

Johnny glanced down to his hands, his heart beating in his ears.

"Little by little, I'll tell you it all. Sooner or later you'll find out the truth. It's such a long story. I just don't know how to tell it to you just yet." She brushed his cheek, "Just enjoy your childhood, Johnny. You deserve that."

Johnny kept his eyes downcast trying to take all her words in, trying to make them make some form of sense to him.

"I just hope you don't hate me for it."

He glanced up when she said this. It was those words that scared him the most.


End file.
